It’s good to see that I’m not the only one who thinks Rice should run for president in 2008. Morris leaves out a crucial point that would be salient in discussing a run for the presidency by Condi Rice. It would put the final nail in the coffin of the “Republicans hate women and black people” myth — even if she were to lose to Hillary, the Democrats would never be credibly able again to label Republicans as opposed to those two groups.
Bush is certainly doing nothing to impede her progress towards this goal, even if he’s not actively wearing a campaign button. Moving her to the bureaucracy-heavy and internationalist-friendly State Department will boost her credibility on management skills and foreign relations.
Moving speculatively even farther into the future, a decisive win by Rice in 2008 would spark serious (and I mean REALLY serious this time, not just artificial) soul-searching by the Democratic party. If Republicans can successfully splinter off the big factions that compose the modern Democratic party, it can be destroyed in its present form — not so that Republicans can run unopposed, but so that the Democrats can be remade into a viable and healthy party. Our system of government works best when both parties are healthy and aren’t run by radical people like… oh, I don’t know, Howard Dean.
Bonus points for Condi if she puts Lieberman on the ticket as VP.